Planetary protection protocols try to make sure we don’t seed places like Mars with life from our planet. An astrobiologist argues they’re misguided – especially with human astronauts on the horizon.
Anastasiya (left) and myself working on the Haughton crater rim.
Mars Society
Will humans ever live on Mars? Whoever it is to get there first will benefit from the experiences of those who stayed in simulated Martian missions here on Earth.
False colour mosaic made from infrared data collected by the Cassini spacecraft.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute
The volcanoes would be a great place t to search for fossilised microbes.
Suited up to simulate the conditions of working outside on Mars. Jonathan Clarke (the author, left) with visiting engineer Michael Curtis-Rouse, from UK Space Agency (right).
Jonathan Clarke personal collection
One of the best ways to find out the challenges of living on Mars is to simulate living on another planet here on Earth. So what’s it like to spend several months living the Martian life?
This enhanced-color image of Jupiter’s south pole and its swirling atmosphere was created by citizen scientist Roman Tkachenko using data from the JunoCam imager on NASA’s Juno spacecraft.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Roman Tkachenko
We may need to re-think our models of Jupiter’s formation thanks to the first results from Juno probe orbiting the planet, and new observations from Earth.
Are we headed to a magnetic reversal and all the global disruption that would bring? Enter archaeomagnetism. A look at the archaeological record in southern Africa provides some clues.
It takes a lot of hard work (and a bit of luck) to get a view like this.
EPA/NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Recent high-profile disappointments make it tempting to this our efforts to explore Mars are cursed. But landing anywhere in space is hard – not least on the Red Planet.
The ruddy hue of our moon in a total lunar eclipse.
Shutterstock/Chris Collins
The red hue of the moon during a total lunar eclipse gives astronomers at cue on how to find out more about the planets being discovered around other stars.
An artist’s impression of the polar orbit of WASP-79b.
ESO/B Addison
More than three thousand planets have been found orbiting other stars in our galaxy. The challenge now is to find out more about these planets.
This enhanced colour image shows the traces of carbon on the surface, coloured here in blue.
NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Scott Kenyon, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Photos from the spacecraft’s close approach are dazzling. They and other data from the mission will fill in some of the blanks about Pluto and provide a snapshot of the infant solar system.
It’s all happening! New Horizons’ science team members react to crisp shots of Pluto.
NASA/Bill Ingalls
New Horizons mission members have worked on the project for even longer than it’s taken the spacecraft to get to Pluto. They’ve planned, built and researched – and now their efforts are paying off.
An artist’s concept of a plume of water vapour thought to be ejected off the surface of Europa. Could life be beneath?
NASA
Jupiter’s moon Europa is one of the most enticing objects in our solar system, and a future NASA mission may help reveal whether it is a suitable for life.
What can what’s on the moon tell us about our home planet?
NASA
The moon might harbor bits of the Earth that blasted off our planet billions of years ago. These lunar time capsules could hold secrets about conditions here at home back when life was first emerging.